ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS STOWE MERCANTILE COMPANY No. C North Main Street Telephone 321 BELMe$Tt N. C. ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS ORANGE CRUSH AND DOUBLE COLA BOTTLING CD. TekflMNw 5-1131 GASTONIA, N. C. ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS CITY COACH COMPANY, ING. R. R. Rhyne, Manager —Operating Gastonia to— Rex—Ranlo—Spencer Mountain—Lowell—Art-Cloth McAdenville—Eagle Mill—Belmont—E. Belmont North Belmont — Mt. Holly 156 W. Airline Are. Telephone 5-0511 GASTONIA, N. C. Aaalwrsaiy Breetligs J. R. KAYLOR 6ENERAL CONTRACTOR ROUTE NO. 1 6astMla, H. C. Newspaper Ads A Century Ago By ROBERT ft. BARTHOLOMEW Chapel Hill.—Many of the pres ent-day newspaper readers fret as much pleasure from reading the advertisements as they do from the news or sports sections of the pa pers. If today’s readers had a chance to read the advertisements that ran in the North Carolina newspapers of a century ago, they would find them not only amusing but highly educational. Newspaper advertising not only shows what people want to buy and sell but it gives a clear picture of the general economic and so cial conditions of the period. A survey made of several North Carolina papers, dated 1849, shows that the advertising profession has made great progress from a tech nical standpoint and that the ad vertisers of today have also chang ed their products and services as well as the method of offering them to the public. No Full-Page Spreads The first thing that one notices about the advertising of a century ago is that there are no full-page spreads. Most ads are confined to a column and are from two to three inches deep. A two-column ad 10 inches deep was rarely ever found, but a few patent medicine firms did use this much space. Practically all advertisements, were set in the same tise type with which the news matter was printed They generally had a heading with regular news-sise type. Photo graphs were not used but an oc casional drawing of a products might be shown. Many of the ads were for pro ducts and services that have been obsolete for years. Some of the papers carried advertising for lot teries, the first prise being $40, 000. Tickets for this lottery sold for $10. There were also reward notices for fugitive slaves. Such rewards ranged from $6 to $100, depending on the value of the slave. Steamship Liaea A century ago, steamship lines were operating on the Cape Fear river between Fayetteville and Wil mington. Passage for one way was advertised for $3 and freight rates also were quoted. There was alee a steamship line that was advertis ing out of Wilmington for passen gers for a “direct trip to Califor nia.” Several advertisers listed car riages and other types of horse drawn vehicles. One firm offered a new type shower bath that would wash the body but would not wet the bead of the bather. An ice com pany offered to ship ice from Wil mington to customers along the Cape Fear and pointed out that it would be "carefully packed and promptly forwarded.” Officers of the law also ran ads a century ago. One North Carolina sheriff advertised for an escaped counterfeiter who had been manu facturing North Carolina bank bills. When the counterfeiter es raped, he also stole his counterfeit bills back from the sheriff. Front Fago Advertising Many of the papers carried ad vertising on the front page which is a custom that is followed today in some parts of the world. The front page of many of the papers were usually divided between ad vertising matter and news matter. Good businessmen of a century ago acted just as they do today. When a great crowd of visitors was expected to be in town, they ran ads for the benefit of the visit ors. One merchant in Raleigh was looking forward to the meeting of the Legislature and ran the follow ing advertisement: “Should the gentlemen of the ap proaching Legislature want any good old Liquors, we will be pleas ed to furnish them. Jugs, Decant ers, and Tumblers also loaned.” Patent medicine advertising took more space in the papers than any other product. Prices on such med icines ranged from 10 cents to $3 per bottle. These products were supposed to cure anything from an ingrown toenail to the most serious diseases known to the med ical profession. Nearly all of them were guaranteed to give satisfac tion. One such guarantee ran as follows: “I will guarantee my medicine to relieve pain in two or three hours and will cure in two or three days. At all druggists, 25 cents a vial.” Prices Were Lew The present high cost of living would make the merchant of a cen tury ago look like a fairy god mother. Flour sold for two cents per pound, lard for seven cents a pound. Twenty-five cents would buy two pounds of bacon, and a dollar would buy 200 pounds of white potatoes. Molasses was 25 cents a gallon, and salt pork went begging at five